Jewish Literary Links for Shabbat
Shabbat shalom.
Archive for 2012
Call for Contributions: December Jewish Book Carnival
In addition to serving as the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) Facebook Writer-in-Residence for December, I’m also hosting the next monthly Jewish Book Carnival. What’s the Jewish Book Carnival, you ask? Like last month’s host, I’m going to borrow the description from the Jewish Book Council’s ProsenPeople blog, which hosted in October:
“In case you’re new here, the series is a monthly event where book bloggers who promote Jewish literature come together to share some of their best content from the past month. Each month the round-up of posts can be found on a different Jewish literary blog, so be sure to check out Jewish Book Carnival HQ for future (and past) hosts (and posts!).
Want to participate in the December Carnival, which will go live here on My Machberet after sundown on December 15? Please send the link to your chosen blog post to me by close-of-business on Monday, December 10. (Authors-who-blog: Please note that the carnival’s spirit emphasizes discussing other people’s work instead of our own.)
I’m eager to receive your submissions (bonus points if you use “December Jewish Book Carnival” in the subject line of your e-mail), and I look forward to presenting a super-duper December Carnival for all to enjoy!
Wednesday’s Work-in-Progress: Being a Virtual Writer-in-Residence
The official announcement came on Monday: I’m going to serve as a “Facebook Writer-in-Residence” for the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) during the month of December.
Here’s the text of the full announcement:
Erika Dreifus is our Facebook Writer-in-Residence during the month of December. Erika is the author of QUIET AMERICANS: STORIES, which is a 2012 ALA Sophie Brody Medal Honor Title. The stories in QUIET AMERICANS are based largely on the histories and experiences of Erika’s paternal grandparents, German Jews who immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s; Erika is donating portions of book-sale proceeds to The Blue Card, which supports U.S.-based survivors of Nazi persecution. Additionally, Erika—whose first paying job was serving as a library assistant at her middle school—is a prolific book reviewer and blogger and a passionate advocate for Jewish literature. A regular participant in AJL’s Jewish Book Carnival, Erika will also host the Carnival in December on My Machberet, her blog on matters of Jewish literary and cultural interest. She anticipates an exciting month in discussion with AJL’s Facebook community and welcomes any early questions or suggestions you may have. Please visit her online at www.erikadreifus.com.
More than visiting me online, though, I hope that those of you who want to talk about Jewish books, libraries, and writing will “like” the AJL Facebook page (and be sure to hover over that “Liked” link to ensure that the posts show up in your news feed). That way, you’ll receive my writer-in-residence posts and be able to participate in the discussions throughout the month.
Speaking of–any topics you want to be sure that we cover? Please tell me!
On “Jewish” Writing: Reflections on Tablet Magazine’s New Fiction Series
As someone who spends a lot of time reading, writing about, and promoting Jewish literature—including, and perhaps especially, Jewish fiction—I’m mystified by the direction that Tablet magazine appears to be taking with its new fiction series.
Tablet, as you may know, bears the trademarked tag line, “a new read on Jewish life,” and describes itself as a “daily online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture.” It’s a magazine that I admire and enjoy; I was delighted when it added original fiction to its mix this fall. But that delight has turned to puzzlement–and a degree of dismay. (more…)
Listen to Etgar Keret Read from “Suddenly, A Knock on the Door”
On November 15, I had the great pleasure and privilege of attending an event featuring Israeli author Etgar Keret. Held at Baruch College of The City University of New York, the session was titled “The Real and the Imagined: Talk and Reading with Etgar Keret,” and it featured readings from Keret’s latest collection, Suddenly, A Knock on the Door. Directly after the reading, Keret headed to the airport for a flight home to Israel, interrupting his tour to return to be with his family during Operation Pillar of Defense.
A friend had hoped to join me at Baruch, but that didn’t work out. So I took my trusty iPhone–equipped with its iTalk application–along instead. And I recorded the session to share via e-mail with my friend after the fact. (My learning how to e-mail a large audio file could be a story in itself, but I’ll spare you those details.)
The event’s organizer contacted Keret’s agent and asked if it would be OK for me to post the audio publicly. To my delight, the answer is YES!
So, I happily present to you: Etgar Keret. (If you have the new collection and want to follow along as Keret reads from it, you can go ahead bookmark “What Animal Are You?” and “Healthy Start”–both of these stories were translated by Miriam Shlesinger, by the way–before you click here to begin listening.)
NB: I couldn’t upload the file directly to my website–it’s too large. So I’ve attempted to use the file-sharing program that helped me send the file to my friend. I hope it works! (The file will expire on December 25, so please listen soon!)